Nesting Blue Tits.

[bomb]

My nest box has been abandoned by the nesting birds. I have been watching the box carefully and there had been no activity for days, so I investigated to see what was in the box.

I found a beautifully constructed nest, made from moss, hair and finally dressed with soft clean feathers. The rounded form was in towards one corner and I'm sure the little bird would be super-cosy tucked up in there.

One lonely and tiny egg remains.

No other evidence of chicks or other eggs in there.

Also, the inner side of the box has a few vertical scratch marks in the wood. Why would the birds do that ? Do they scratch the wood with their claws, or more likely peck away at it ?

I'm sad they have departed. Maybe something has unsettled them ? Our garden is quiet and sheltered.



The inside of the box -


The nest and egg-

[Boosted LS1]

Put it all back minus the egg and see what happens.

[Easternlight]

Quite a high drop out rate for blue tits. I look after 30 odd boxes in our local wood and 25% to 30% of them have failed nest's in them each year.

[bomb]

A pal of mine has a box complete with a live feed camera. He has birds in there ( blue tits) and they have produced about 6 or 7 eggs. The mother is sitting on them now, so looks like he has a successful nest there.

We have far too many magpies around the area and they constantly harass the songbirds. Maybe they have chased the smaller birds away ?

[netherfield]

bomb said:

A pal of mine has a box complete with a live feed camera. He has birds in there ( blue tits) and they have produced about 6 or 7 eggs. The mother is sitting on them now, so looks like he has a successful nest there.

We have far too many magpies around the area and they constantly harass the songbirds. Maybe they have chased the smaller birds away ?

You've got admire the work involved in making a nest, once in one of ours it was built almost entirely of dog hair, the number of trips needed from the lawn to the box amazed me.

[Some Guy]

At work a pair of blue tits made a nest in the wall mounted ashtray.
Returned to the same place 3 years in a row.

[bomb]

Some Guy said:

At work a pair of blue tits made a nest in the wall mounted ashtray.
Returned to the same place 3 years in a row.

Chain smokers then ?

[TR4man]

Birds will often abandon nests and build elsewhere, but what intrigues me are those scratch marks.

[bomb]

Yes, I was wondering about the scratch marks. The box has been up for two years. Last year the birds looked in but never nested in there.

This year they have nested so I am assuming the scratch marks have been done by them whilst in the box this season.

Maybe they have been pecking at a soft spot in the wood, or scratching with their claws ??

Anyone seen this before ??

[Sparkov]

I've had blue tits nesting in a box in my garden frequently over the past few years. They always seem to start by pecking at the area around the entrance hole, and you can clearly see where they've removed the wood. I thought they maybe did it to test the strength and security of the box, or maybe it's just natural behavior as they'd likely need to tidy up a natural nesting site before using it.

[Roofless Toothless]

I'm jealous. Still no sign of life in my abandoned blackbird nest.

It's amazing how clever they are making a nest. As Eric Morecambe once observed, "fancy doing that with your nose and both hands behind your back."

[bomb]

Sparkov said:

I thought they maybe did it to test the strength and security of the box

The cheeky little buggers. Mine isn't just any ordinary box, Its a Marks and Spencers box !! ( as a gift from family, I hasten to add)

[Roofless Toothless]

Sparkov said:

I've had blue tits nesting in a box in my garden frequently over the past few years. They always seem to start by pecking at the area around the entrance hole, and you can clearly see where they've removed the wood. I thought they maybe did it to test the strength and security of the box, or maybe it's just natural behavior as they'd likely need to tidy up a natural nesting site before using it.

I bought a nest box a few years ago and it had two panels with different sized holes to insert. You decided which species you wanted to encourage and chose the appropriate sized hole. The size of your hole is critical, it seems (!)

Perhaps your blue tits thought the hole was a bit small for them.

After all, you'd look a bit stupid if you fattened up a brood of chicks and they couldn't get out of the hole in the front of the box.

[FunkyNige]

bomb said:

A pal of mine has a box complete with a live feed camera. He has birds in there ( blue tits) and they have produced about 6 or 7 eggs. The mother is sitting on them now, so looks like he has a successful nest there.

We have far too many magpies around the area and they constantly harass the songbirds. Maybe they have chased the smaller birds away ?

My parents have the same, but the last couple of years none of the chicks have survived to fly the nest.
This year a nest was built, a Great Tit has been in there a few times but nothing has laid any eggs.
You can see a live stream of the empty nest ( ) on this channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfrnzvib1s-QYFlTs...